


Gone To Rust

by ryuusanadork



Category: Sleepover Club - Fandom, The Sleepover Club
Genre: Angst, Bisexuality, Britain, Coming Out, Depression, F/F, Gen, Growing Up, Lesbianism, Old Friends, Reunions, Self-Acceptance, Sixth-Form, Summer Holidays, University, and she's a really good ally so it's alright, and their familial situations differ slightly, anyway, anyway it's gay and sad but they'll be fine, based off the books not the TV series but there's not a lot of difference, bi rosie, but if you're a fan of the TV series and not the books you probs won't be too confused, but nobody's gonna die so dw, change, except they live in england instead of australia, lesbian kenny, lyndz is still valid, maybe sh/suicide later, okay serious tags now:, tw for depression mental illness, you know what in this fic none of them are straight except lyndz
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-12
Updated: 2017-12-12
Packaged: 2019-02-14 01:43:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12997104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryuusanadork/pseuds/ryuusanadork
Summary: It's been years since the girls of the once-cherished 'Sleepover Club' finished school, and they've gone their separate ways in several meanings of the phrase. Now navigating the messy, confusing summer between the conclusion of their A-Levels and the commencement of university, Kenny & Rosie work together at their dead-end job, dread results day and contemplate their futures...until an impromptu party at Felicity's enormous house drags the gang back together for a night that resurrects old feelings, feuds and memories. The past might well be the past - but the connections formed between children can't be erased or forgotten as easily as anyone thought. And the month that follows certainly brings the intensity of childhood friendship, clumsy first love and clumsier teenage heartbreak back to Kenny's consciousness in full force.Title quote/lyrics taken from 'I'll Rust With You' by Steam Powered Giraffe.





	Gone To Rust

"Kenny," said Rosie, a little sleepily and without quite the desirable amount of discretion, "I think you should see a therapist."

Kenny blinked, a little startled but not exactly insulted: it was just like Rosie to say something of this nature as matter-of-factly as if she were reading the weather report, and no malice was intended. "Oh, really," she said, dryly, when she'd recovered. "And what do you think I should talk about?"

Rosie shrugged, sucked on the inside of her cheek. "I don't know. I just think you have depression, to be honest." 

They were travelling home from work together; Kenny had acquired a summer job working in the kitchens at a restaurant where Rosie waited tables. Kenny's legs ached from standing and Rosie's face ached from smiling. Neither girl was in the mood to treat any subject with the gravity it was owed...so, of course, now was the perfect time to breach serious topics. 

"Enlighten me, then," said Kenny, nudging her friend's ankle with the heel of her trainer. "What symptoms of depression do I exhibit?"

"You sleep a lot," Rosie observed. "And you never really cry about things. Even when awful shit happens."

"Well. You have depression for real, and you never sleep and you're always crying, so what gives?"

"It can manifest both ways."

"And 'awful shit'? What 'awful shit' has happened to me, Rosie?"

"Um." Rosie shifted in her seat. "Your exams...your exams didn't go so well."

"That happens to everyone."

"And your best friend kind of broke your heart."

A small tension rose and then dissipated with Kenny's laugh, awkward but determined. "That was years ago. Anyway, you're my best friend now and you haven't broken my heart." She paused. "No offence. You're just not my type."

"And you're not mine, either," said Rosie lightly, smiling. "Anyway, don't change the subject. I just...I don't know. You don't seem happy these days. I want you to be happy."

"I'm eighteen," said Kenny. "Nobody's happy at eighteen. I'll be fine. But thanks for the concern." She leant against Rosie's shoulder and looked at her phone screen. "Is that Fliss?"

"Yeah. She's dating some French girl she went to boarding school with. They just became facebook official."

"Isn't that her third girlfriend this year?" 

"Fourth."

"That girl is ridiculous."

"She really is." Rosie shook her head. "Bless her heart."

"I haven't actually talked to her in like...a year. At least."

"Me neither."

They were quiet, solemn, for the rest of the bus journey. Rosie's stop came before Kenny's and the latter sat still with her thoughts for a moment before getting her phone out and putting her headphones in. She hadn't listened to one song before it ran out of battery and turned itself off.

So she was left, once more, to thinking, which had never been her strong suit. Then again, she didn't exactly have many other hobbies anymore. Football was a thing of the past: she'd quit her school team in Year Nine after The Incident, and hadn't bothered to join the college team. It didn't look like she was going to be a doctor anymore, either, so there was little to work towards. 'The Sleepover Club' had fragmented as well, mostly due to the inevitable sort of drifting-apart that friendships tended to suffer from but partly due to a much sharper division. One Kenny knew was largely her own fault, albeit consequent of some things beyond her control, perhaps.

Kenny and Rosie had stuck together. They still occasionally talked to Lyndz, who would never have a bad bone with anybody, but she tended towards spending time with the girls at the stables, and was so preoccupied with her riding that her social life had long since fallen by the wayside anyway. Fliss mostly hung out with her friends at boarding school and rarely spoke to the other girls now, although she did post heartfelt birthday wishes on their facebook walls once a year. And then there was Frankie. Frankie, Kenny's first best friend. Now blocked on every social media platform. Now gone, it seemed, from her life. But not, of course, from everyone's: Frankie was popular, at least.

Whether or not said popularity was built on lies.

Kenny often wondered what the shape of their old group might have been if she, herself, had never been a part of it. Or even, sometimes, what might have happened had she never been born; if there was one thing Kenny felt she lacked nowadays, it was purpose. 

Rosie, she felt, would name this as a symptom of depression. And so there were some things she kept to herself.

Keeping to herself might have solved a lot of problems. Come to think of it. And, of course, Kenny thought of it a lot. Especially these days.

**Author's Note:**

> I literally wrote this on impulse because I was thinking about how these were amongst my favourite books growing up, and about how most of my favourite books growing up came from titled 'The ______ Club' and focused on intense friendships between girls, and about how it turned out I was a lesbian...my tastes were symptomatic of that, perhaps. But the Sleepover Club was my fave because besides like, Jacqueline Wilson books I didn't really have access to a lot of fiction about kids growing up in working-class Britain and it was nice to relate to a setting like that - maybe that's why I never got terribly into the TV series (although I did watch a few episodes and it WAS perfectly good, even if a few character details were changed). I know Kenny's ''''real'''' name is different in the books and show, so that's why I tagged both names!! Although I doubt this series has much of a fandom anyway.
> 
> Anyway, if my nostalgia-fueled, depression-addled brain sparks up again over the next few weeks and my original fic project hasn't picked up much I might get around to writing another chapter of this soon haha...I have plans for what will happen but idk if there's much market for it. I didn't read back over or edit this either HAHA sorry if it's shite


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